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Why Bringing Your Marketing In-House Isn’t Always The Answer

Oct 9, 2018

Posted by Niall

A company is launched, and it outsources its marketing to an experienced agency that helps the company increase revenue and grow as a business. The company continues to expand and benefit from the tangible marketing efforts generated by the agency. Everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet and happy with the results so far.

Then the company reaches a stage of success where it feels compelled to bring its marketing in-house. The company brings its marketing in-house and tries to replicate what that fully-staffed, expertly trained agency was able to achieve with a new, in-house team. Results start to decline and growth stalls. The company becomes less profitable and then must reduce its marketing budget – the vicious cycle begins.

We’ve seen this exact situation unfold numerous times. It’s completely normal for companies to expand, mature, and want to bring all their efforts under one roof. However, bringing marketing in-house is not a prerequisite to lasting success. We’ve seen countless companies make this same mistake and then lose access to all the market insight an agency had previously offered.

The main issue that arises with an internal team is that they lack an outsider perspective. It’s normal for companies to want to bring everything under one roof where all departments can be overseen and managed easily. However, this misplaced duty companies feel when it comes to bringing marketing in-house can create serious problems and impact their vision for the future.

Here are some of the issues that can, and more often than not, will arise.

You Cannot Replicate An Outsourced Agency In-House

To achieve the best results possible, you want your marketing strategy to be handled by experts - people who grapple with these types of tasks day in, day out. An agency provides a dedicated team of professionals who specialise, not just in marketing, but within specific facets of marketing.

Most in-house marketing teams won’t have enough time or resources to develop a fully-functioning team capable of dealing with a fluctuating workload. An agency will most certainly be better trained, have a more in-depth knowledge and in turn be far more efficient that an in-house team. Hiring externally gives companies access to a ready-made team that is prepared to hit the ground running with any brief you throw their way.

Instead of specialising in all things marketing, in-house marketers tend to be a Jack of all trades and a master of none. Agencies work hard to ensure that high standards of practise are maintained among their employees by continually investing in training and development programmes - something that is likely to be ignored by an in-house team due to wider company budget restrictions.

Companies must be ready to adapt and overcome when things don’t go to plan and having a fixed budget makes it all the more difficult to react appropriately. With a flexible budget, clients are able to adjust depending on the current operating success of their business – either cutting back on marketing efforts during slower months or increasing efforts when sales have been good. Maintaining this flexibility regarding budget is essential when preserving a positive relationship with your client. If clients feel cornered by contractual obligations, they are likely to look elsewhere.

We Don’t Know Who Discovered Water, But We Know It Wasn’t A Fish

Agencies provide an outside perspective and will be significantly less biased than an in-house team who are completely immersed within the company. If you are hoping to appeal to your existing audience and engage prospective audiences, the ability to put yourself in another person’s shoes is essential. Employing an agency to do your marketing is a sure-fire way of accomplishing this as they are in a perpetual state of offering complete objectivity as they aren’t emotionally invested in the same way an in-house team might be.

Marketers are involved in the nitty gritty aspects of this business every single day. They possess a large network of vendors and channels, as well as the experience of working with numerous clients meaning they’re equipped to deal with the many challenges that will come their way.

Time Is Money So Spend It Wisely

Bigger budgets, a larger team of expertise-led people and an abundance of resources ultimately means that an outsourced agency will be able to deliver a better standard of work at a far quicker pace. Agencies must be efficient to operate effectively. They are acclimatised to juggling work deadlines belonging to different clients while still producing high-quality work on a budget.

In addition, hiring an outside team is far more cost effective than recruiting, hiring, training and paying an in-house team. Working in tandem with an outside agency provides companies with a sense of flexibility as they can scale up or down depending on how their business is performing.

If It Ain’t Broke Don’t Fix It

The temptation to bring all your efforts in-house is an alluring prospect, but it just doesn’t make business sense. Although taking complete ownership of every aspect of your business may seem ideal, if you’re receiving a great service and set of results from your agency, there is no logical reason to alter things.

You wouldn’t allow a marketer to tell you how to best run your day-to-day business, so don’t think you know better than them when it comes to the intricacies of marketing.